Day care or boarding in Eastbourne?
Day care and overnight boarding solve different problems, and four of Eastbourne's eight listed businesses offer both. Of the eight boarders, day cares and kennels listed here, five offer some form of day care: The Sussex Dog Retreat, We Love Pets Eastbourne & Polegate, Nightingale Boarding Kennels, Active Animal Pet Care and Eastbourne Doggy Daycare.
When day care fits
Day care suits a dog that would otherwise be alone through a working day rather than one that needs to stay overnight. Eastbourne Doggy Daycare, in the Pevensey area, is the only listed business that offers day care and nothing else, running a four-hour taster session before a first booking and taking puppies from 12 weeks. The Sussex Dog Retreat, in the Eastbourne centre area, calls its version a "9-5 dog creche" alongside its home boarding.
When overnight boarding fits
Three businesses here board dogs overnight only, with no day-care service listed: Dingo's Rest and Salty Seadogs Seaford, both home boarders based in Seaford, and Linden Lodge Kennels & Cattery, purpose-built kennels and a cattery near Hailsham.
The ones that offer both
We Love Pets Eastbourne & Polegate prices home boarding at £50 for 24 hours alongside its doggy daycare service. Nightingale Boarding Kennels, in Polegate, runs doggy daycare alongside its overnight kennels, which are priced from £25 a night for a dog sharing. Active Animal Pet Care, in Hailsham, prices home boarding and day care together at £25 a day, though its own contact page currently says it is not accepting new dogs for either. The Sussex Dog Retreat also combines home boarding with its day creche.
Ask which one you actually need
If you are not sure whether your dog needs a day or a night away, describe your situation directly: how long the dog will be away from you, whether it has been left with strangers before, and whether it needs medication or has any anxiety around other dogs. A kennels stay and a day at a day-care premises are licensed differently by the council, so this is also worth asking as part of checking a business's licence.
Cats and other pets
Linden Lodge Kennels & Cattery is the only business listed for Eastbourne that also boards cats, running a separate cattery alongside its dog kennels. If you need cover for more than one type of pet at the same time, ask directly whether a business can take both under one booking rather than assuming a dog-only business will.
Where each type sits
Day care here is concentrated in the Eastbourne centre, Polegate and Hailsham areas; the two businesses that board overnight only, Dingo's Rest and Salty Seadogs Seaford, are both in Seaford. See our area-by-area guide for the full breakdown of where Eastbourne's eight listed businesses actually are.